Yet, the Browns won. Offensive coordinator Norv Turner thought the running game was one of the reasons.

“I’m not caught up in numbers,” Turner said, saying the running game is serving a purpose. “When we run play-action passes, guys are open down field.”

In other words, enough defenders commit to stop McGahee — when the quarterback fakes a handoff — to skim them away from receivers even though he doesn’t actually have the ball.

“We want to be efficient enough with the run to help with play-action passes,” Turner said. “That’s a lot of what we’re trying to do.”

Turner is being an optimist. He knows full well these aren’t his Dallas days when Emmitt Smith was racking up big numbers on Super Bowl contenders.

But then, these aren’t the 1990s. In Turner’s last year as coordinator of the Cowboys, only two quarterbacks passed for more than 3,500 yards. In 2012, 17 QBs topped 3,500.

Even in the passing storm that has been Turner’s outpost in 2013 — with three different starters at quarterback — the Browns are on pace to pass for 4,158 yards.

Page 2 of 2 - Left tackle Joe Thomas didn’t make six straight Pro Bowls by being a dummy. He sees what is going on.

“Obviously, we wish we were running the ball better,” he said, “but it’s like Norv said.”

Play action is working. Fake handoffs are slowing down the rush and getting receivers open. That means defenses are worried enough about McGahee and the other runners to worry about them.

“Nobody in the NFL wins games by running the ball any more,” Thomas said. “It just doesn’t happen.”

The function of the run, Thomas says, is “more about setting up the pass.”

That leaves the Browns hoping old McGahee can bring a bit more than he has in seven games, and that 31-year-old quarterback Jason Campbell is more than a novelty defense coordinators haven’t caught up with yet.

McGahee, for one, seems convinced Campbell is for real. He found an amusing way to express the thought, describing what ran in his mind when Campbell was down in the last game after getting flattened by Baltimore’s Haloti Ngata.

“Get up. Get up. I don’t care if you’re hurt. We need you.”

Campbell missed a few first-quarter plays, returned to lead the Browns to a 24-18 win, and was named AFC offensive player of the week.

Turner is highly complimentary toward Campbell, but some of the praise must be taken with a grain of salt, given the fact the coaching staff had Campbell as its No. 3 quarterback only recently.

Even Turner says, “I’m not going to get carried away, because I know and Jason knows it’s a week-to-week deal.”

Losing at Cincinnati might carry the Browns out of serious postseason contention. They would be 4-6. They then would have to finish 5-1 just to get to 9-7.

On the other hand, a win would put them at .500 this late in a season for just the second time in 11 years. They would be 5-5. That would be different.

McGahee isn’t getting carried away, either. But there is a glint in his eye. Perhaps his carries can count just enough.